The shocking case of Orissa's dwindling wildlife

While poachers were active in Orissa's lone National Park at Similipal, the state's Wildlife Crime Cell to tackle growing and rampant wildlife crime remained defunct. There is no dedicated intelligence staff on wildlife crime.

Offenders are rarely convicted in wildlife cases, even when caught red handed. Many cases are pending for more than a decade, Mohanty lamented.

Orissa, housing the world's largest nesting sites for olive ridley sea turtles, also witnessed merciless killing of this rare animals. "More than 1,40,000 turtles were killed during the last 14 years," wildlife activists alleged.

Turtle mortality is mostly due to illegal trawling and failure to use Turtle Excluder Devices, forest officials said.

The shocking case of Orissa's dwindling wildlife

Despite allegations that snake-charmers at Patia village near Bhubaneswar had at least 1,000 live snakes including pythons and king cobras in their possession, not a single raid was conducted by the forest department.

Live birds like parakeets, hornbills, hill mynas, waterfowl, munias are trapped and sold for various purposes.

The grey hornbill is sold for medicinal purposes at prices ranging from Rs 1,000-1,500 per bird.

Bird poaching in Chilika Lake has declined in recent years due to increased patrolling and enforcement by local forest officials, claimed Ajit Kumar Patnaik, director Chilika Development Authority.